Early the next morning, Ye Kai went to the Military Intelligence Department of the General Staff to meet Uncle Li.
This matter was ordered by the second old man, mainly because the security force he had on hand was not enough.
Ordinarily, there are many bodyguards around him, from Li Da to Li Wu, plus later Feng Tianyi and others, these are actually his bodyguards. However, due to various reasons, Li Da, Li San, and Li Si are in charge.
The capital master, Li Er and Feng Tianyi stayed in the Shengwang New District to help him watch the scene, while Li Wu followed Zhong Liyu to protect her safety.
As a result, Ye Kai had no one available around him, so the second old man asked him to find Uncle Li.
But after meeting Uncle Li, Ye Kai himself felt a little embarrassed.
It seemed that the Military Intelligence Department had become his bodyguard department. He kept coming back and forth and almost emptied Uncle Li's family. Fortunately, Uncle Li had a good temper and did not argue with him about this matter.
After Uncle Li saw Ye Kai, he also sighed, "The manpower originally prepared for you was enough, but you just ran around and couldn't stay in the capital, but you left a mess. Someone has to help you guard it.
Only a few days after I arrived in Jiangzhong, I opened such a big stall. All my agents became your helpers, and you yourself ran to Russia again. By the way, Zhang San and Li Si are still over there in Russia, and I don’t know.
how's it going?"
Ye Kai sat on the sofa opposite Uncle Li, crossed his legs and swayed, and said with a smile, "Uncle Li, it's a bit unkind to say this. What they do, as long as you want to know, you can't
knew?"
There is definitely no problem with what he said. As the head of the Military Intelligence Department, Uncle Li has great authority. The commander-in-chief may not be able to completely control him. Therefore, Uncle Li has eyes and ears all over the world. If there is any trouble, he will be the first to know.
That's him, and then the other big guys.
As long as the intelligence is along the lines of military intelligence, it cannot escape Uncle Li's control.
So Ye Kai said that Uncle Li was unkind and deliberately pretending to be pitiful.
"I heard from the old man that you went to Russia this time and came back with a dozen nuclear submarines?" Uncle Li quickly led the topic here.
"Well, that's the case. The main reason is that the shells of nuclear submarines are made of titanium alloy. Recycling scrap iron is also a lot of money, so you can make money." Ye Kai's answer was not entirely true.
"Nonsense, I heard that you still have plans to purchase an aircraft carrier." Uncle Li immediately exposed Ye Kai's lie.
"Hehe. Just think about it. In fact, buying an aircraft carrier is not just about spending money. There are many problems that need to be solved. There is no chance for the time being." Ye Kai smiled and said.
Of course, he doesn't need to hide anything from Uncle Li, but it's not appropriate to rush this matter. Wait until the other party is crazy and poor before doing anything about it. It's too early now.
"Which aircraft carrier are you interested in?" Uncle Li asked.
"Of course it's the newly built ship, the Varyag." Ye Kai answered honestly.
"Oh, that's pretty good." Uncle Li nodded.
The Varyag is the most powerful aircraft carrier ever built by the Soviet Union. However, the Soviets do not call them aircraft carriers, but aircraft-carrying cruisers.
In fact, when Ye Kai and Ye Ziping visited the Soviet Union last year, the main structure of the Varyag had been basically completed, and more than 60% of the hull had been installed. The main work carried out at that time was some later equipment installation work.
, such as cable laying, weapon system assembly, etc.
And according to the current intelligence feedback, the Varyag is now ready for sailing. In the past few months, the Varyag has completed two sea trials, and the results were very good.
"If you ask me, the time is ripe for you to take action." Uncle Li said to Ye Kai.
"What suggestions do you have?" Ye Kai asked.
"According to my intelligence, Ukraine is currently in a very unhappy situation with Russia. Due to financial reasons, Russia must have refused to pay for this aircraft carrier. It is parked in the dock and is occupied by Ukrainian civilian ships.
Resources, so the Ukrainian side has already planned to dismantle it, but the shipyard employees are firmly opposed, thinking that doing so is such a waste of natural resources." Uncle Li explained, "So, now the Ukrainian side is also scratching its head, always thinking
We need to find a way to solve this problem."
"So that's it..." After hearing this, Ye Kai immediately fell into deep thought.
The Soviet Navy began building the first-generation "Moscow"-class aircraft carrier cruiser (helicopter carrier) in 1962. After starting the construction of the second-generation "Kiev" medium-sized aircraft carrier (medium-sized aircraft carrier) in 1970, it began construction in 1982.
The third generation is now the Russian "Kuznetsov" heavy aircraft carrier cruiser.
In early 1983, Marshal Gorshkov, then Commander-in-Chief of the Soviet Navy, proposed the idea of building a second aircraft-carrying cruiser. This plan was supported by the then Soviet Defense Minister Uskinov.
In December 1985, the "Riga" officially started construction at the Black Sea Shipyard.
In view of the construction and testing experience of the "Kuznetsov" and after complex calculations, the ski jump deck was improved from the 12-degree "Kuznetsov" to a Type 1 aircraft-carrying cruiser. It was launched on November 25, 1988.
At this time, the main structure of the ship body has been completed.
According to the original plan of the Soviet Ministry of Defense, the "Riga" was supposed to be the No. 2 ship, but the Soviet Navy believed that there had been new developments in shipboard electronic equipment at this time, and the original design should be improved.
In June 1986, the type improvement plan was approved. The main content was to improve the radar system: replacing the "Mars-Tradewinds" phased array radar of the "Kuznetsov" with the latest "Frum" air warning radar.
, at the same time, the model also made significant improvements to other electronic equipment, with a total of more than 150 improvements compared to the model.
However, due to the updated plan, the construction was delayed by 9 months compared with the scheduled construction period. In July 1990, the "Riga" was officially renamed "Varyag".
Logically speaking, the Varyag should have been completed and put into service long ago. Unfortunately, the Soviet economy was in trouble, especially after the outbreak of the Gulf War, and the oil price plummeted, which dealt a fatal blow to the Soviet Union's oil exports. The entire Soviet Union's foreign policy
Trade has fallen into a hopeless situation, funds have dried up, and further investment cannot be continued.
For these reasons, the Ukrainian Black Sea Shipyard, the contractor of the Varyag, can only put the ship there first and maintain the operation of the shipyard by undertaking the construction tasks of some large civilian ships.
"When I went there last year, the Ukrainians expressed financial difficulties. I didn't expect that they could continue to invest in building aircraft carriers in this year. It is really rare." Ye Kai said.
"Now we can no longer support it." Uncle Li said to Ye Kai, "Not only the ship under construction can no longer support it, but also in Russia, the two ships currently in service are also very problematic, and the Kiev has been retired.
Plan, and the Minsk is no longer usable, it can be used if it is needed. Only Ukraine can overhaul it, but the cost of the overhaul is beyond the reach of the Russian Navy."
"That's it..." After hearing what Uncle Li said, Ye Kai's mind immediately began to spin.
In fact, he paid more attention to the Varyag, because this aircraft carrier was towed back and officially served in the Republic Navy. As for the Kiev and Minsk aircraft carriers, he paid much less attention, but
My impression seems to be that there are two aircraft carrier theme parks or something.
For this reason, he did not carefully understand the situation of the aircraft carriers Kiev and Minsk, which can be said to be an omission.
At this time, Uncle Li mentioned this matter and asked Ye Kai to carefully consider the matter from beginning to end.
The Kiev was the first ship of the former Soviet Union's "Kiev" class aircraft carrier. It was built in 1970 and entered service in 1975. It was the flagship of the former Soviet Union's Northern Fleet and was once a symbol of the former Soviet Navy.
The Minsk aircraft carrier is the second of the former Soviet Union's "Kiev" class aircraft carriers. It entered service in 1978 and was transferred to the Pacific Fleet in 1979.
The Minsk was quite prosperous at the time, and its arrival brought an end to the former Soviet Union's history of not having large capital ships in the Far East. In particular, the Minsk's home port was located in Vladivostok, only more than 200 nautical miles away from Japan. In the 1980s of the Cold War, Japan had
The Minsk is like a gleam on the back.
After the disintegration of the Soviet Union, the Minsk no longer had a logistics support base because the Ukraine that produced it had become independent, but the aircraft carrier was in the hands of Russia. It could be repaired, but it would require US dollars. The Russian Navy, which was also unable to uncover the problem, had to let it fend for itself.
.
"Recently, Koreans are very interested in the Minsk, and there should be Americans behind it." Uncle Li said to Ye Kai, "It is said that the Korean defense department and American intelligence officials are very curious about the design of the Minsk.
I have considered buying it back to study it.”
After hearing this, Ye Kai laughed and said, "You can see what Gao Li Bangzi's intentions are at a glance, but we also have such considerations, so it's not easy to laugh at others, otherwise we will laugh at the fifty steps and the hundred steps."
Having said that, this matter also attracted Ye Kai's attention. He began to consider the possibility of capturing these three aircraft carriers at the same time. However, if this happened, it would be an extraordinary test for his own funds.
big.
Although the cost of purchasing an aircraft carrier directly is not very high and can be done within tens of millions of dollars, and can even be exchanged for supplies without paying a penny, the subsequent problems are more troublesome.